Corpus Christi sparkles by day, when sunshine reflects off its bay and beaches. The Texas Gulf Coast city's downtown glows at night by the twinkling lights of busy harborside restaurants and shops. With an average 255 days of sunshine each year and an average daytime temperature of 71 degrees Fahrenheit, tourism is a year-round industry in this city of about 312,000 people. Daily flights arrive at Corpus Christi International Airport, while other visitors drive or take a bus 210 miles from Houston or 140 miles from San Antonio. Area lodging varies from discount motels ringing the city to pricier bayfront hotels and beachside resorts.
You can swim in bay waters and fish from the jetties at McGee Beach, located on a downtown seawall, while North Beach has gentler wave action, which makes it a popular bayfront beach for families with young children. Across the bay on North Padre Island, facing the Gulf of Mexico, take your board to J.P. Morgan Surf Park, or swim Atlantic Ocean waters at Mustang Island State Park. If you favor golf over the gulf, play 18 holes at Corpus Christi’s city-owned Lozano Golf Center or Oso Beach Golf Course.
At Texas State Aquarium, stroke stingrays and sharks at outdoor touch pools, see a dolphin show or watch hawks and falcons fly overhead at the aquarium’s Wild Flight presentations. At the USS Lexington Museum on the Bay, board a decommissioned World War II ship that has been converted into a naval aviation museum with 20 vintage aircraft parked on its decks. Hike nature trails and visit bird and reptile exhibits at the 182-acre South Texas Botanical Gardens and Nature Center. At the Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History, see artifacts from two Spanish ships that sank in nearby waters in 1554.
Stroll past live sidewalk music performances to downtown art galleries during ArtWalk, held downtown the first Friday evening of each month. The Art Museum of South Texas houses more than 1,000 paintings, sculptures and other works by regional and national artists, and you can see local artists at work in their studios at the Art Center of Corpus Christi. The downtown Harbor Playhouse regularly schedules popular musicals, or see performances by the Corpus Christi Ballet and Corpus Christi Symphony. Each March, the Festival of the Arts showcases live entertainment, film screenings, sand sculpting and art exhibits at Corpus Christi’s Heritage Park.
The first week in December, the Harbor Lights Festival features a daytime children’s street parade and a nighttime harbor parade of lighted, decorated boats manned by crews singing Christmas carols. In April, watch a night parade after seeing a rodeo and trying the carnival rides during Buccaneer Days. Watch a smaller parade of boats line up for free sailboat races every Wednesday night at Corpus Christi Marina.
